A Little More About Our diy Party Deck

The last time I mentioned our ‘diy party deck’ was back in April when my husband had officially nailed in the last nail. It was a complete DIY project that we decided to tackle ourselves, after we quickly realized the final project costs to pay someone to complete the work for us {after all our must-haves}. Doing the work ourselves saved us more than 1/2 the price of the estimates that we were quoted. The production time was a little longer than expected, but well worth the wait.The project was started last July and worked on through the end of September until we had to break for winter; The final touches were finished this past April. My husband drew the initial plans and we had them reviewed by an architect and close construction friend to make sure the structure met all the coding. The enlisted helping hands of friends and family made the project possible in the end.The deck adds an additional 1012 square feet of outdoor living space which I absolutely could not be any more happier with. We do a lot of summertime entertaining so it is perfect for our guests.We went with pressure treated lumber {opposed to composite decking} for two reasons; one mainly being the cost of the composite decking. {with the amount of square footage it was almost impossible to do budget wise}. Second we wanted to keep with the natural feel of the surroundings since our home is nestled in the woods. We wanted the true look of natural wood and thought it would fit perfect in our setting. With that we have to accept the upkeep and staining {which is its own project in itself} though very rewarding in the end.For an optimal ‘scenic’ view from the deck we choose aluminum classic balusters in black from Deckorators. I love the design and style they add to the railings when combined with the natural wood; plus the virtual maintenance free upkeep was an added plus. Keeping with the classic look, but adding a little modern twist, we used copper high point post caps to finish off the posts. 8X8’s were used for the supporting deck posts and 6×6’s for the railing posts to keep everything in proportion with the size.When it came time to furnish our new outdoor space I was at a loss as our glass top patio set looked like a kiddie table in comparison to the size of deck {mind you it sat eight}. I scoured home and garden stores the beginning of the season searching for the perfect set with no luck. In the back of my mind I envisioned an outdoor bar/restaurant scene with several high tables and stools {complete with the mismatched bar logo umbrellas… yeah you know the ones} I could not find anything that kept with the natural feel I was looking for or did not break our bank account.

I definitely did not want anything with glass again, Just too hard to keep clean and not very durable for my active little guy. I wasn’t really sold on cushions or anything that involved fabric. The elements just kill them and we are not very good ‘put your cushions away every night’ kind of people. Not to mention the price of replacing cushions now-a-days costs just as much as purchasing a new set.

I wanted tough, sturdy, durable and something I could take a hose to at the end of a party and call it a night. I searched for three straight months changing my mind every week until my husband came to the rescue again {I will not say for sure, but a little persuasion and bargaining may have been involved}

We ended up with three 40X40 bar height tables and stools all made from scratch. It took approximately two weekends to complete and I can honestly say a lot easier than then it originally looks. Build plans are kind of intimidating but if you follow them step by step and have the right tools you can make these too!

I’ll be posting the plans and build details of the bar tables and stools in a separate post shortly.

There is still quite a bit left on our to-do for the space, I am just so excited to see it starting to come together. I am so proud of my hard working hubby. {I’m so grateful for many things} Thanks for letting me share this space. Enjoy!

I’ve found over time that doing projects ourselves is a thousand times more work and a thousand times more rewarding. Your deck is incredible; you and your hubby should be very proud. I am looking forward to the furniture plans and will be setting my hubby to work when you post them! Thanks for sharing.

Hi Stephanie Lynn-My husband and I built our deck together 16 years ago. It is large and does require maintanence, but was so worth it as we use it constantly. Yours is beautiful and so nicely designed. I bet you can’t wait to have your first party on it now that it is almost complete.

What a fabulous place to entertain, just love it. I have two tables and need to change out my umbrellas. I’ve been debating lime green or red. Thanks for helping me decide that red is just the perfect summer color!

It is gorgeous Stephanie! I am completley in love with this. I have had a few sets of plans printed out to try something…but have been chicken. My deck looks a lot like yours…not as high or as much square footage…but real lumber (redwood) and deckorators balusters…so it was like a sneak peek at what I could have. AMAZING! You out did yourself!

I Love that deck. My HH and I would love one like that. Someday. We are in a similar boat, not enough money to pay someone and my HH doesn’t have the time right now to do it. I will just have to pop onto your blog and enjoy yours for the time being. Tell your HH it looks fantastic. Love his skilz!~

I’m loving that whole thing! But mostly, I just want lanterns and lights in my backyard (that don’t belong to the city) Oh well, yours are lovely. (and I bet the ones UNDER the deck look dynamite at night! So great! Thanks for sharing!

WOW! That looks SO good! We are planning a deck redo here shortly and I may just have to copy some of your ideas! Question…are there stairs that go from the deck to the yard?Erin jezacharda(at)yahoo(dot)com

Oh goodness, there you go again. Not only did you like make stuff from scratch, your patio lanterns are wicked cool! Gorgeous outdoor space you must simply adore! My SNS sidebar needed this. Thank-you.

You did an amazing job. It looks like the perfect place to entertain, and the smaller tables are a great idea. Have you considered painting or staining the tables and stools? They look great now but a pop of colour might just be the cherry on top! Cudos to you and your hubby for a job well done!

I cannot imagine a pro doing a more professional job than your DIY. Superb and the punch of color with the red umbrellas is terrific — as I’m sure many have said. Now just enjoy all that work. Hope you’ll stop by and see my garden project. Jane F.

Great Photos! Stephanie, I would love to see the top of your patio cover. We have just finished mine and can’t decide whether to paint it or stain it. When I saw yours I kept trying to move the picture up to see the top. ha ha. Maybe from a far view, I promise to take pictures of my deck and cover, it truly was a labor of love! Thanks Stephanie!

Wow! That’s incredible! What a beautiful deck and that seating you guys made is PERFECT for that space! I’ve built a deck from scratch before and I know how tough it is, but the result is sooo worth it. I hope you guys enjoy your gorgeous new outdoor addition!

I always get so excited when I see your thumbnail on a blog party, and I click right over here forgetting that I can’t see your photos from work! I just emailed myself reminding me to blog stalk you Saturday. Sigh. How can I possibly wait that long???

Wow awesome!you did a great job on it Stephanie and I believe that it does not matter how large or small your deck is you can make it an inviting, warm, and functional extension of your home. Just like what I did in my own deck and it was really fantastic because I bought the furniture from homefurnitureandpatio.com, and I was glad with what they have.

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